When Love Dies
by Little-Miss-Rachel
Summary: Maria Kanellis is there for the last five days of her fiance Matt Cappotelli's life.
1. You're A Fighter, Baby

A/N: So you can say I was inspired by the recent news of Matt Cappotelli's condition. If you don't know, he has a cancerous brain tumor that could possibly kill him. This may be a slightly different pairing then what everyone's used to, seeing as it's never been used before, but I just thought that I'd dedicate this story to Matt and let's all pray he makes it through this dilemma alive.

Summary: Maria is there for the last five days of her fiancé Matt Cappotelli's life.

Characters: Maria Kanellis, Matt Cappotelli, others

Rating: T, for death situations and sexual references

Disclaimer: I don't own them, and if I did, Matt wouldn't have a brain tumor and he'd still be champion.

Chapter One: You're A Fighter, Baby

A/N 2: Also, a big thanks to Jen who helped me with the title. I own ya one!

With a heavy sigh Maria Kanellis entered Louisville Area Hospital. The second she entered the white building the smell of disinfectant invaded her nose. Her nose scrunched in disapproval at the smell but kept walking. She got into the elevator and stared down at the card she was holding.

_I hope you're awake, Matt._ Maria thought just as the elevator doors opened. She hadn't been able to talk to her fiancé and best friend Matt Cappotelli since his surgery days before. He still hadn't awoke, and Maria was beginning to worry.

Would he ever wake up?

She passed many patients in the hallway who were obviously undergoing chemotherapy because all the women, children, and men were balding. She knew that they hated being sympathized over, so she sent them happy smiles though on the inside she was broken.

"Hello Ms. Kanellis." Matt's nurse said as Maria approached Room 221. Maria nodded a hello and ducked inside the room just before the door was shut. She stood against the door and stared at Matt.

Her eyes swept over his sleeping form, and she wondered why this had to be his destiny. She wondered why God chose him to have the tumor. Her eyes landed on his bald head, and a small sob escaped her lips. She knew how much he loved his long hair, and how much it killed him to look in the mirror. Maria glided gracefully across the room in her Happy Bunny slippers and sat in the chair next to his bed. She scooted it as close as possible and rested her head and his forearm.

"Baby…" She whispered, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "I miss talking to you. I know you can't talk to me, but I know you can hear me. That's what my mom says, anyway. She says that unconscious people can sometimes hear their loved ones speaking and they wake up. I've prayed to God that you wake up one day."

She wiped away the tears that fell onto his tanned arm and rubbed up and down slowly. Tears kept falling from her eyes as she thought of all the good times they had together. She lifted her head to look at his sleeping form and stared at his face.

"I wish that you could talk, baby. I miss hearing your voice and your laugh." She wiped some more tears away. "Hell, I miss you yelling at me for the stuff I do." She leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh.

"I have everything for our wedding planned out. I'm going to have a beautiful dress and I know how you wanted it to be on the beach but we live in Louisville so I rented us a chapel. I hope you don't mind. Everyone backstage misses you so much. The fans ask me how you are and I try to tell them the truth but I don't have the heart to tell them that you're… you're not doing well at all." She whispered. She gave his hand a squeeze and let the tears fall from her eyes.

She hated to see him like this. He was so weak and vulnerable. She remembered when he was first diagnosed with the cancerous brain tumor that ultimately affected his life. He had sunk to the floor in tears when he got to their apartment that they shared. Maria had done the best she could to help him realize things happened for a reason.

"Miss Kanellis, I'm sorry to say this but we're going to run some test on Matt and you have to go home." Mrs. Jones said in her thick southern accent. Maria, who was looking over at Matt, snapped her head towards the redheaded chubby nurse.

"What kind of tests?" She asked fearfully. She didn't want them to hurt him any more than they already had.

"The basic diagnostic tests they run after brain surgery. They'll put him through the CAT scan and see if he's having any brain waves or if it grew back. The procedure will take about two hours, and by that time visiting hours will be closed. But I promise that if he wakes up I'll give you a call." She explained carefully.

"Okay…" Maria whispered. She turned back to her unconscious fiancé and leaned over. "I love you, Matt." She murmured in his ear before kissing his slightly warm cheek.

"Have a nice night, Mrs. Jones." Maria said as she walked backwards out of the room. Mrs. Jones nodded and walked over to Matt's bed to look at his vitals. Maria stood in the doorway for a moment staring at Matt before she walked swiftly down the hallway.

She felt like her chest was being squeezed. The smell of disinfectant burned her nose as she took in deep breaths. She ran out of the sliding glass doors and leaned against a white circular pillar. She let her head fall against the cold stone material and closed her puffy eyes.

She thought about all of the things she was stressing over, and wondered if it'd ever get better. She ran a hand through her hair once she stood up straight and walked off towards her car. She drove away from the hospital slowly, her eyes moving into the rearview window every once in a while to look back at the white building that loomed over the smaller ones around it. She couldn't take to look at it anymore so she turned back to the road and watched the scenery pass through the windshield. The place was all too familiar now.

Maria made it home just in time to watch Wheel of Fortune. She settled onto the couch with a bowl of kettle corn. She pulled her Happy Bunny clad legs up to her chest and rested the popcorn bowl on the arm of the couch as she pulled the warm Indianapolis Colts throw down from the back of the couch.

Despite what everyone may think about her, Maria was a pretty smart girl. She called out phrases before most of the letters were up on the board, and she began to tabulate the amount of money she would have been getting in her head. She chowed down into her kettle corn until the show was almost over and the bowl was empty. She definitely loved her sweets.

Just as Jeopardy had started the phone rang, and Maria reached lazily over to get it. It was probably Mickie calling to ask how Matt was doing, or one of the fans Matt had exchanged numbers with. The caller I.D read a name and number that she didn't recognize but she answered it anyway. She'd do anything to ask any fan's question at the moment. She knew Matt would have wanted her to.

"Hello?" She asked in a slightly cheerful voice.

"Maria? This is Mrs. Jones from the hospital." Her southern accent floated through Maria's ears, and the brunette's heart began to pump faster. Was everything okay?

"Oh, hello Mrs. Jones. Is everything okay with Matt? Is he okay?" Maria asked frantically. Mrs. Jones let out a deep breath.

"I think you should come on back to the hospital." Before Mrs. Jones could finish saying why Maria had hung up and was already in her coat. She slipped into her shoes and swung open the front door.

"Please, God, let him be okay. _Please_ let him be okay." She whispered into the silent night. She hopped into her car and sped off as fast as she could to the hospital, pleading in her head that Matt was okay.

A/N: So… yeah, that's the first chapter. I don't know when the next update will be since I was BOMBARDED with projects since they changed my WHOLE ENTIRE SCHEDULE AROUND. So… I have a lot of work to do for those classes. Anyway, reviews are much appreciated and they inspire me to write more.

**Rachel**


	2. Keeping Our Love Alive

**I disclaim blah blah blah. Oh, and thanks for all of the awesome reviews. Oh, and to lulu who suggested the Cena/Maria pairing, sorry hun, but I hate Cena with all the fiber of my being so… the only time he'll be in one of my stories is if he's getting beat up, killed, made fun of, or anything else that's horrible that could happen to him. **

**Also, in my opinion, the Cena/Maria kiss was horrendous. The only good part about it was Maria, who saved the whole damn segment because Cena was just… gags. Okay, enough of my tiny little Cena rant and onto the story before it gets any longer.**

**Chapter Two: Keeping Our Love Alive**

**--**

Maria rushed into the hospital with unshed tears in her green eyes. She jumped into the elevator just as it was closing and immediately began to press the 'three' button over and over again. She tapped her foot covered in her Happy Bunny slippers impatiently as it slowly moved up to the second then third floors. She ran out and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw no one lining the halls or in the TV room.

_What's going on?_ She asked herself inside of her head.

The brunette diva walked towards Matt's room slowly, her stomach filled with nervous butterflies. She walked cautiously up to the door and pushed it open slowly. Her head peeked in to see Matt had his eyes closed.

"Mrs. Jones?" She asked in a fearful whisper. The only noise was the machines beeping as she stepped inside of the room. When she glanced at the brain monitor she was surprised to see that it was moving up and down at higher frequencies than it had the past few days when he was in the coma.

"The only person in here is me, babe." His sweet voice filled Maria's awaiting ears. Maria's mouth dropped open at the sound of him speaking. It was like an angelic voice from Heaven. She hadn't heard it in so long she was afraid she had forgotten it.

"Matt? You're awake?" She stuttered. The tears in her eyes shone under the bright lights, and they slowly began to move down her rosy cheeks.

"Yeah, and if you don't come and give me a hug-" But he didn't have to finish his sentence. Within two steps Maria was at his bedside hugging him tight.

"I missed you so much." She whispered against his neck. Matt stroked her hair gently as he spoke.

"It's so good to see you again, sweetie." He pulled out of her tight embrace and gave her a sweet kiss though he was risking his health at doing so.

"How do you feel?" Maria asked in a worried voice. She settled into the chair by his bedside and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her head rested on her knees as she watched him with a small smile.

"Okay," He sighed, "I don't like how I have no hair but I'll survive." He rubbed his bald head with a grim smile.

_I hope you do survive,_ Maria though as her smile grew when he rubbed his head.

"Mrs. Jones scared me half to dead when she called and told me that I had to come to the hospital right away." Maria chuckled quietly. Changing the subject was always good in situations like there; especially when the topic traveled to survival.

"I told her to sound upset so you would get here faster," He held out his hand which Maria took quickly, "You've been in my dreams every night," He whispered. Maria kissed his hand gently, tears flowing down her cheeks from her eyes yet again,

"I'm glad you thought of me," She said with a smile. Matt winked at her and his eyes shone with admiration towards the WWE Diva.

Maria watched her fiancé look around the room for a brief moment before turning back to her. When he noticed she was staring at him he leaned over as far as his I.V would let him and kissed her gently. Maria kissed him back though she knew what she was doing could kill him. If she had even the simplest cold she could kill him.

His immune system was already weakened because of the cancerous brain tumor in his brain, and any other disease would be able to swarm his body and eventually kill him for his immune system was already working on trying to make the cancer go away. But as he kissed her all Maria could think about was being with him and how much fun they had together.

_Flashback_

"_Matt, babe, I'm home!" Maria called, kicking her shoes off at the front door. She sighed once she was out of her Jimmy Choo's she had bought with her paycheck. They had killed her feet. _

_She walked further into their apartment to find him in the kitchen packing a basket. She walked up behind him and gave him a big hug. Matt turned in her arms and enveloped her in a hug of his own. _

"_Watchya doing?" Maria peeked around his body to the basket he was loading with food. Matt turned her face up towards him with his thumb hooked under her chin and smiled. _

"_We're going on a picnic," He declared. Maria raised her eyebrows at her fiancé of one week._

"_Really?" She questioned in amazement. "We've never gone on a picnic before."_

"_Well we're trying something new today," Matt turned back around and finished packing the vegetables. Maria unlatched herself from his waist, moving slowly towards the refrigerator. She pulled out two bottles of water and tossed them to the blonde haired man standing at the counter._

"_Let me go get changed first," Maria sighed, "I had no clue that I'd be doing a run in with Ken Doane and have to actually RUN IN and stop the match. Jimmy Choo's are not fun to run in," She exclaimed. Matt chuckled before feeling something cold hit him. _

"_Hey!" He called; turning to see Maria had the water sprayer in her hands. He ducked when she shot it at him again and ran to hide behind the island. Maria stopped spraying for a second before Matt peered over the top. When he thought she was finished he came out only to be attacked by her with a cold glass of water._

"_That's what you get for laughing at me and my pain," Maria nodded defiantly. Matt's eyes shone in the light and he advanced towards his girlfriend of two years. Maria backed away until she could move no more since she was against the wall. _

"_I'm so going to get you back," He promised. Maria gulped loudly, causing him to chuckle. She always had a way of making him laugh when she did the stupidest things. _

"_Matt, baby, it was just a joke. You know, HA HA," Maria said, trying to talk him out of getting revenge on her. He shook his head, water droplets flying off the tips of his shoulder length hair. _

_Once he was standing in front of her he pulled her into a hug, soaking her in the process with the water bottle. He poured it over both of their heads and they both began to laugh. Maria pushed her hair from her eyes with her mouth wide open in shock._

"_Great, now I'm all wet!" She stomped her foot like a two year old throwing a tantrum. "I have to take a shower anyway," She shivered from the chill of the water that was dripping off of her. _

_Matt turned her around so he could walk with her towards the bathroom. Maria leaned back into his strong arms and sighed happily. Little giggles escaped her lips when his fingertips ran up and down her sides. He kissed her neck lightly causing her to shiver again._

"_I'm going to join you in that shower," He whispered in her ear. Maria giggled louder at what he said. He began to whisper again, and her eyes widened. She turned and slapped him in the arm before letting him lift her up. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and kissed him softly._

"_Then let's get to it so we can go on this picnic," She muttered against his lips. Matt nodded enthusiastically and kicked the bathroom door open. _

_End Flashback_

"Come here… lay with me," Matt shook Maria from her good thoughts as he spoke. She stood and crawled into the small bed beside him. His arm went instinctively around her so they were holding each other.

"I miss laying like this with you," Maria whispered as if she were afraid to break the silence that had settled between the couple.

"Me too," He responded before wiping a tear away from her cheek, "Baby, don't cry. I'm going to be okay," He reassured her.

"I'm just scared, Matt," Maria admitted dully, "I'm afraid of losing you. You're the only one I have here and if you go… go to Heaven then who will I have?"

"Don't you dare speak like that," Matt admonished, "I'm not going to leave you until God sees that it's my time."

"But what if your time is now? What if God takes you away from me now?" She cried onto his shoulder. Matt hugged her gently, letting her cry on him.

Tears threatened to fall from his own eyes as he thought of what she was saying. He wasn't afraid of death. He knew it'd come someday. But the thought of leaving behind everyone he cared about scared him shitless. He was afraid to leave Maria behind. They were going to be married in two weeks, and he wanted to be around for that.

"How was your week?" He changed the subject quickly. Maria sighed and ran her hand over his stomach.

It was okay. Amy and I had a match on Monday with Edge and John Cena. I, of course, was on Cena's team," She rolled her beautiful eyes. Matt chuckled and ran his fingertips up and down her arm.

"He didn't hit on you again, did he?" Matt questioned. Maria could hear the jealousy in his sweet voice.

"He…uh…" She didn't want to lie to him when he was practically on his death bed, "He kissed me?" She stated nervously. Glancing up at Matt she watched him glare at the wall.

"Was it during the show?" He needed this information. Not only was John cheating on Trish Stratus with that ungrateful diva Stacy Keibler, he had been hitting on Maria for the past few months.

"It was televised and he totally improvised. We were only supposed to talk, but then he kissed me and slapped my ass." She whined. Maria was good friends with John's girlfriend Trish and when she had expressed her concerns to the six time Women's Champion the blonde diva ignored it. Trish thought John was a saint.

"I'm the only one allowed to touch your ass," Matt growled. His hand moved down to it causing Maria to giggle quietly before resting her head on his chest.

"I heard you talking to me," Matt whispered. Maria raised her head to look at him.

"I'm glad you did. The fans really miss you, sweetie," She responded, adding a light kiss to his lips. She rested her head back onto his chest.

"Have they been calling?"

"Do you remember that girl Addison?" When he nodded she continued, "She calls everyday and asks me how you're doing. She'll be so happy to hear that you're awake," Maria grinned happily.

"I miss getting into the ring," Maria didn't miss the wistfulness in his voice.

"Hopefully you'll get better and when you do you'll be back in the ring," She laced fingers with his and kissed his ring finger.

"I really do hope so," He replied sadly. Tears filled his eyes once again and he sniffled. Maria glanced up at him and wiped a lone tear off his cheek.

"Please don't cry," Maria mumbled sadly. Matt took in a deep breath knowing that he shouldn't cry in front of his already emotionally unstable fiancé. He didn't want her in tears again. It made him feel horrible.

"I love you so much." He murmured. Maria's eyes filled with tears yet again.

"I love you too," She hugged him gently, "And I can't wait to marry you."

"Our honeymoon is going to be amazing," He said before winking at the brunette. Maria giggled and blushed a light pink. She poked his side, and buried her face into his chest.

"I got my dress the other day. It's beautiful."

"Babe, anything you put on is beautiful," He moved some hair from her face as she looked at him. Just as the backstage announcer was going to say something Mrs. Jones walked in.

"Maria, dalin', visiting hours are over. I'm sorry, sweetheart." The older woman said in her rich southern accent. Her face once again showed her sympathy towards the young couple.

"Okay," She sighed unhappily. After kissing him softly she got off the bed. Matt gave her hand a tight squeeze, preventing her from leaving.

"Come see me tomorrow," He whispered. Maria leaned down and gave him another kiss.

"I'll come and see you everyday that you're here regardless," She then let go of his hand and walked backwards out the door. She glanced in through the window with sad eyes. As she walked down the hallway her head dropped so she was staring at the floor.

_Please don't go tonight,_ She prayed to God.

When she was inside of her car she rested her head against the steering wheel and let herself cry. Her tears of fear and sadness dropped onto her pajama pants she was currently sporting.

_Why, God? Why did you have to do this to my Matt? He's a good person and always cares for others. He doesn't deserve this… He deserves to be healthy and to be back in the ring. And to be healthy and happily married to me,_ She asked God in her head.

Her head lifted and her eyes cast upwards towards the sky that now seemed to be crying with her. A frown creased her beautiful features as she thought about how this could not be a good sign about things yet to come.

--

**So… what'd you think? I have three more chapters that are probably all going to need a tissue warning. The last two definitely will. I'm not too sure if you'll need your handy dandy box of Kleenex or not for the next chapter or not. Reviews are, as always, appreciated!**

**Rachel**


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